Week 18 Tapering: 6/18 – 6/24

I am doing this training recap early because this morning, I went on my last training run!

Marathon training is officially over. All that’s left now is to run the actual race.

My runs this week were just like last week’s – slow, recovery pace. My massage Monday seems to have helped my tight muscles ever so slightly but they’re still begging for lots and lots of stretching.

Anyway… here’s what has happened so far this week.

Monday: 3 mile recovery run (37:20; 12:06/mile)

Tuesday: 2 mile recovery run (~12:15/mile)

Wednesday: 4 mile recovery run (49:30; 12:22/mile)

On today’s run, the first 3 miles I ran were around a 12:50 pace. Then the last mile, I ran in 10:59, just to remind myself that I can run faster.

Running Miles = 9

Here’s what the rest of the week will look like:

Thursday: Rest (to finish packing!)

Friday: Traveling

Saturday: Mayor’s Marathon – 26.2 miles!

Sunday: ??

………………….

Like any other athlete before a race, I’ve been checking the weather for race day everyday. So far, it’s looking like the perfect day:

Apparently, 69* is hot for Anchorage. But for Denver, it’s downright chilly (what with all the upper 90s we’ve been having lately. I’m not complaining though – dry heat is nothing like humid heat!) And I love that sunrise in Anchorage is at 4:21 – no getting up when it’s still dark outside for this race! The race starts at 8:00 so I figure I could get up around 5:30 or 6:00, get to the race site around 7:00 and be good to go.

T-3 days!

Week 15 Tapering: 6/11 – 6/17

I got in all of my planned miles last week and each run felt better than the last. I purposefully ran them all at a very slow recovery pace. Even when I felt like I could run faster, I made myself keep it slow and VERY easy, reminding myself, “Running slow is the thing helping your legs feel better.” Having no pace pressure also made running more enjoyable!

Monday: 3.06 mile recovery run (38:08; 12:27/mile)

Tuesday: 6.01 mile recovery run (1:13:43; 12:16/mile)

Wednesday: Rest

Thursday: 6.02 mile recovery run (1:12:19; 12:01/mile)

Friday: 4.03 mile recovery run (49:00; 12:10/mile)

Saturday: 2 hours of easy hiking

Sunday: 30 minutes of moderate hiking

Total Running Miles = 19.12

And with that, it is now RACE WEEK! Gah!

My IT band/hamstring/glute/hip area has been feeling really tight the past week so I got a massage last night. It felt great, though there were definitely some areas that had me wincing a bit while the lady worked them over. My legs felt great on my run this morning but they end up getting angry the longer I sit down at work. Even though I get up to stretch and walk around every hour, my hips are not happy! At least they don’t hurt while I’m running.

Travis and I still have a lot of stuff to do before we leave on Friday morning so I gotta go. It’s good that I’m busy – less time to drive myself crazy with race day nerves!

The Race Strategy

As I’m almost staring down a week until the marathon, I’ve started getting my race strategy together. Using the published course map and the satellite view in runningahead.com, I mapped the marathon course. It helps me in races to recognize the portion of the course I’m on so that I have an idea of where I am and where I’m going. For this race, it will also help me prepare for the hills – and get ready to cruise the downhills!

{I posted the maps in map view instead of satellite so that they’d be easier to read.}

Miles 1-5

Miles 1-5 are an out and back along the highway following a paved trail or road. The elevation gain is steady – 150 feet in 5 miles. Since I’m used to this kind of elevation gain from my daily runs, I’m not worried about the hills. I will, however, be keeping a close eye on my watch to make sure I don’t go out too fast. Coming from elevation to sea level, it could be hard to accurately gauge how fast I’m running when I start. My goal is to run these miles at a very conservative, relaxed pace, probably somewhere around 11:45/mile. If I see my pace go faster than 11:30, I will slow myself down.

Miles 6-10

Miles 6-10 are a nice little downhill! But they also include 4 miles out of 7 that we run on a gravel road called the Oilwell Tank Trail. So these miles will be spent focusing on not twisting my ankle and watching out for wildlife like moose and bears! I read that the race organizers and wildlife rangers sweep the trail in the morning to make sure there aren’t any hanging around but that doesn’t mean they could mosey on over there before I get to that spot.

Other information I read: If you encounter a moose, you’re supposed to give them a good 10 yards of space and an open escape route to get around them. If in doubt, don’t approach. Moose can be moody and ornery. Bears are much more timid and if they hear humans, they’ll probably run away. If you happen to surprise one, put your arms up to appear larger and back away slowly keeping the bear in your sight. (I’m kind of hoping I don’t encounter either of these guys on the course.)

Miles 11-14

Miles 11-14 are still on the Oilwell Tank Trail and are the last section of extended uphill! I will allow myself to walk if needed here and just focus on getting to mile 15 without killing my legs.

Miles 15-20

Miles 15-20 are a net downhill of 300 feet! This is where I’ll pick up steam if I’m feeling good. But I won’t let myself run faster than 11 minute miles because I’ll still have that last 10K to run! The few short pesky hills in this stretch should help keep my pace moderate. Mile 15 is also the last of the Oilwell Tank Trail – I’m sure it will be a relief to get back on to pavement. Around Mile 18, we start running through the actual city of Anchorage. Hopefully this also means more spectator support!

Miles 21-25

Miles 21-25 are mostly downhill, but still involve a few pesky (and downright ornery) hills. If I’m still feeling good, I’ll run at whatever pace feels comfortably fast. But if I need to walk, I’ll walk. It’ll be the longest run of my life at this point!

Miles 26 and 0.2

Mile 26 gets right down by the water (only 3 ft elevation!). But to get to the finish line, we have to climb back up to 79 feet! That’s just cruel. But exciting because it mean we’re almost there. We finish on the high school’s track. (The route I mapped is long by 0.2 mile.)

…………………

I found a really cool running calculator today while surfing Runner’s World boards about increases in running performance going from altitude to sea level. Using the pace from my 20 mile run (which would mean a 5:07 marathon), it calculates that at sea level, I could run the marathon in 4:48, an average pace of 10:58 (an increase of about 30 seconds per mile). I would be beyond thrilled with that time. But again, I want to enjoy this race more than I want a certain time so even though I’ve been tempted to print off a pace band for a 5-hour finish, I won’t. I don’t need the clock staring me down – I’ll have plenty of hills doing that!

Even though my legs aren’t feeling fully recovered from my 20-miler, my brain is feeling excited! I’m still nervous, and reading about the Oilwell Tank Trail hasn’t done me any favors – in the participant guide, it’s described: “Narrow, brushy, and full of rocks that threaten even the most stable of ankles, the Tank Trail tests both physical and mental mettle, as lesser-prepared participants begin to wonder, even this early in the race, if perhaps this wasn’t such a great idea.” Sweet. Thanks for telling me that. (Double gulp.)

But I’ve very glad to be feeling excitement! I’m looking forward to getting out there and proving to myself that I can do this. It still seems incredible to me that I am ready to run a marathon. That’s crazy talk! And in just 9 days, I’ll be at the start line.

Week 16 Tapering: 6/4 – 6/10

The theme of my first taper week:

Those who can’t run, walk.

Monday: 1.55 mile walk with pooches (untimed)

Tuesday: 2.63 mile attempted-run-turned-walk (38:54; 14:49/mile)

When I got home from work, I made a deal with myself: I could watch one NCIS episode before going out on my 4-mile run. That would allow it to cool down some (like 1 degree) outside too. I ended up falling asleep by the end of the episode but woke up right as it ended. Determined to run, I got ready and headed out with the dogs. I walked the first 1/4 mile to warm up and then started to run. Half a mile later, I was walking. My legs felt absolutely horrible and I was exhausted and cranky. I decided that I was doing no one any favors by pushing myself to run at all, let alone 4 miles. So I walked almost all of this and let it rest at 2.5 miles.

Wednesday: 5.05 mile easy run (1:00:10; 11:57/mile)

My legs felt better for this run but still weren’t 100%. Regardless, I was able to run all 5 scheduled miles, even averaging a 10:58 pace for the last 1.55 (sans dogs).

Thursday: 5.15 mile ‘fartlek-ish’ run (1:02:26; 12:11/mile); 1.55 mile walk (untimed)

Running in the evening is getting trickier by the day. It’s usually blazing hot by the time I get off work (80-90 degrees most days), with the sun still out in full force. So I’ve started to work backward from sunset to figure out what time I need to start my run by in order to not finish in the dark but still miss as much of the heat & sun as I can. Which works out decently well, except for the dilemma of dinner. What can I eat that won’t upset my stomach?

What is not the answer: a burrito. For some reason, I thought that eating a burrito before this run wouldn’t be that big of a deal. And maybe it wouldn’t have been if I had remembered to take Tums before leaving. But I didn’t and the acid reflux made this run pretty miserable, causing me to cut it from 8 miles to 5 and spend the last 3 miles doing fartleks with walking breaks instead of running the whole thing. I had been planning to run the remaining 3 (of 8) with the dogs but instead, I grabbed them for a walk when I got back. The whole time I was kicking myself. Seriously? That was a rookie mistake. Regardless, lesson learned. Again.

Friday: 2 mile walk to Redbox with Travis and pooches (untimed)

We rented Contraband. Meh. Not Mark Wahlberg’s finest. Travis said it was the exact same storyline as The Italian Job, only that movie was actually good. This movie also had a lot of cursing, which just gets hard to listen to after a while.

Saturday: 10.09 mile long run (2:08:29; 12:44/mile); 1.32 mile walk (untimed)

This was quite possibly the worst run of my life training to date. I was miserable the entire time (with the exception of maybe 5 minutes when I was running down a nice downhill and a hot breeze was blowing). The course I ran is a very gradual but relentless uphill on the way out – 165 feet in 5 miles. It’s not that bad but enough to make you really notice a difference when you turn around and run the gradual downhill. Except that I was so tired and hot that day, my speed remained the same. Here are my shiny new GARMIN splits (I’ll post my review of the watch once I’ve used it a bit more):

The reason this run was so hard is the trifecta: 1) I got started later than I should’ve (around 8:30), which I immediately regretted. It was already 80 degrees by then (the high for the day was 95) and was probably 85 by the time I finished at 10:40. And let me tell you, Colorado sun is HOT. Ridiculously hot. On a nice 70-degree day, you can be kind of chilly sitting in the shade but step into the sun and you’re burning up. 2) My mental game was off. No part of me was excited to be out there and by mile 9, I was silently cursing everything in sight. 3) My legs felt slow and useless.

Thus, my 12 mile run turned into a 10 mile run. Starting around mile 7, I bargained with myself that I could walk for a little bit (a minute?) at every mile marker if I ran the rest. Then around mile 9, I started doing run-walk intervals. The minute I walked in the door, I ran a tub of cold water and sat down in it. Ahhh…

Later, around 4:30, I took the dogs for a walk. But it was still way too stifling hot to be in the sun so I cut it short.

Sunday: 1 mile walk with pooches (untimed)

Total Running Miles = 20.2

Total Walking Miles = 9

I don’t normally count the miles I walk with the dogs as training because they’re pretty slow (since I usually wear flip-flops and the dogs sniff everything). But at least half of the miles I walked this week were done in old running shoes and with minimal allowance for sniffing so the walks were faster less slow than usual. {And I’m grasping at straws to not feel so bad for only running 20 miles last week.}

So now you can see why I’ve decided to do all of my remaining runs in the morning. And actually, once I get past the unpleasantness of having to get up early and the craptastic feeling of stiff and sorry legs, I enjoy running in the morning. It’s so nice and cool out! Plus, I LOVE being able to leave work knowing that the minute I walk in the door, I can lay on the couch and not move all night. That thought alone gets me out of bed. Glorious.

The Taper Crazies

So I’m beginning to see what people mean when they say they hate tapering. At first, I couldn’t see a downside to once again embracing 3-mile runs; having time on a work day to do something other than eat, run or work; and being able to replace miles with minutes of sleep. But then I encountered the worst part about the taper:

My brain.

And now I understand: the taper crazies are all in the head. They’ve been there on every run since my 20 miler, cursing my legs when won’t move like they’re supposed to (and following the rabbit trail downward spiral of what that could mean for race day…). They keep me up at night, wondering why in the world did I decide that running 26.2 miles sounded like a good idea? and CRAP, the marathon is less than 2 weeks away. They suggest that my legs won’t be fully recovered by race day. That my brain won’t be fully recovered by race day. Every mile on my training plan that I don’t run is like a stain on my conscience – what if that mile was the difference between succeeding and failing?

Of course I know I’m being ridiculous. I know that it’s better to take things easy and listen to my body, rather than be a plan-following Nazi (so that’s what I’ve been doing despite the taper crazies). But it helps to hear other people say it too:

Listen to your body. Don’t worry about cutting short or skipping a workout if you feel tired or sluggish. The taper is all about recovering from the effects of a long distance training schedule. Remember that it’s not the training done in the taper that will help you on the marathon day. Rather, the gradual buildup of distance over the last few months that will get you across the finish line… Think of the taper period as running to simply keep your legs moving…. The tapering period serves no benefit for increasing fitness for the marathon day; the fitness was acquired in the previous months of training. If you feel tired or sluggish, listen to your body, not your training schedule and skip a workout or two. {source}

Self: Remember this – You are not screwing yourself over by skipping a run when you legitimately feel horrible (or by cutting a run short when it’s 85 degrees outside…a story for tomorrow). It’s good for you to run at a slow recovery pace, even if it is mentally painful, hurts your pride and makes you doubt your ability to run faster.

The taper crazies have been exacerbated by my exhaustion. Not only does my body not want to run physically, my brain doesn’t want to run mentally. Even my stubbornness has taken a few hits this past week and thrown in the towel early and often.

So I’m asking God to let these shorter runs revive me. To freshen my legs and my outlook. Remind me why I love running, even though right now I want to dramatically swear that I’m never running again after this marathon is over.

As for the other aspects of tapering, I’m going to do all of my remaining runs in the morning. Even though I’d rather get back into my morning routine, it’s just too. darn. hot. to run after work anymore.

I’m also going to cut out alcohol, eat fewer sweets, drink at least 64 oz of water per day (not including water during runs), eat more protein (chicken and salmon this week!), and really try to get 8-10 hours of sleep a night.

Have any advice for conquering the taper crazies?

Week 15 Training: 5/28 – 6/3

I’ve been exhausted this week. Two mornings, I’ve woken up as late as 7:15 to get ready for work, even though I went to bed at 9 pm the night before (that would be 10 hours of sleep). The other mornings, I’ve gotten up at 6 or 6:30, which is still later than usual. Yesterday, I was dragging at 1:30 pm and had to go buy an iced coffee (mmmm… iced coffee). Maybe it was last weekend’s 20 miler but I hope my body gets it together sometime soon here – we leave for Alaska TWO WEEKS from today. Gulp.

Anyway, because of that, this week has been a lesson in being joyful even when life is a mess and I feel behind on everything. I actually have kind of appreciated the challenge because it’s a lesson I really want to learn (and a lesson that will take a long time to learn).

Last week was the pinnacle of marathon training. Now I just have to coast injury-free to the start line.

Monday: 800 meter swim + 45 minute easy hike

First swim in a good 5 months. Breaststroke felt good, front crawl majorly rusty. Swimming outside is awesome.

Tuesday: Rest

Wednesday: 5.11 mile run (58:31; 11:27/mile)

This run was MEH. Decent but not great.

Thursday: 10.04 mile run (1:54:24; 11:23/mile)

First 4-5 miles were MEH – legs felt tired and stiff. But last 3 miles were GREAT – legs felt light and fast. Weeee!

Poor Man’s GPS Splits: 

1 – 12:12
2 – 12:18
3 – 11:37
4 – 11:29
5 – 11:25
6 – 11:40
7 – 11:24
8 – 10:21
9 – 10:41
10 – 10:43

Friday: Rest

Saturday: 20.1 mile long run (3:52:44; 11:34/pace)

Sunday: 1.75 mile walk with Mom and dogs (untimed)

Total Running Miles = 35.25

My running total for May was 133.43 miles (April was 111.68), bringing my 2012-miles-to-date to 424.11, over half the way to my goal of running 700 this year.

I said it before, but I’ll say it again – after being sidelined in 2010 from running a full marathon, I feel very blessed to be on this side of my 20 mile long run with no injuries. Nothing. No twinges. No lingering aches. Just exhaustion, apparently. I’ll take it.

(Oh, and it’s a very surreal feeling to be able to write: “on this side of my 20 mile long run.” I ran 20 miles?!?!!? It’s kind of an awesome feeling. I can’t imagine what 26.2 feels like!)

Ready like Spongebob.

After this weekend’s successful 20-mile run, I want to run around like Spongebob: “I’m ready, I’m ready, I’m ready, I’m ready.”

My parents came out Friday night and we went out to eat at a new pizza pub near us called Right Coast Pizza Company. The place was packed and it took a while to get our food, but when it did come, the pizza and bruschetta were amazing. I would definitely go back.

We rented the movie J. Edgar from Red Box and so I ended up staying up until almost 11 before deciding I really needed to go to bed, considering I had 20 miles to run in the morning. The movie wasn’t even that great – very slow-moving albeit somewhat interesting.

The next morning, I got up at 4:40 to get running by 5. The race start was at 8 am, it would take 30 minutes to drive there, and I wanted to run all 7 additional miles before the race, since it was supposed to be 90 degrees later. I was so nervous/excited about running 20 miles that I didn’t sleep very well (woke up at least once every hour) and I woke up without an alarm clock. I had gotten everything ready the night before so I just had to get dressed, eat breakfast and head out the door. I’ve decided that my best pre-race fuel is a blueberry or cinnamon raisin bagel with butter, eaten 5-15 minutes before starting my run. The butter doesn’t seem to bother my acid reflux like peanut butter does.

I wasn’t thrilled with the idea of running 20 miles when I headed out but it’s hard to not enjoy running in the morning. Everything feels so fresh and sunny. Even though my legs felt pretty good, I kept my pace very conservative and easy.

Splits:

By the time I got back, my gray shirt (that I was planned to wear for the marathon) was already soaked… making me decide against wearing it for the actual marathon.

I changed my sports bra and shirt, drank a glass of chocolate milk, grabbed my stuff and by 6:45, we were heading up to Louisville for the Taste of Louisville half marathon.

Finding the park and getting our bibs and timing chips was a breeze. We had just enough time to run our stuff back to the car and stand in line for the bathroom before they announced we should start lining up.

Women’s on left, Men’s on right

Soon, we were off. Right away, we settled into a very comfortable, easy pace. All of the other racers took off so we were pretty much alone for the first 5 miles, with the except of a few racers around us. Aid stations were roughly every 2 miles and were well-stocked with water, oranges, grapes and bananas. I ate several oranges and grapes out on the course and even though my parents were waiting at Mile 6 with Honey Stingers, I didn’t feel like I needed them. The course was also very well-marked and very pretty – we ran through a lot of neighborhoods and quite a bit of the trails were gravel and shaded. Tons of volunteers were helping out too. I’d definitely do this race again!

My stomach wasn’t feeling the greatest for the first 2-3 miles. Maybe it was drinking the chocolate milk in between my runs? Whatever it was, I’m not too concerned about it happening during the marathon since I won’t be taking an 90 minute break in the middle.

Around Mile 3, we started catching up to the runners in front of us and we ended up passing quite a few over the course of the morning. I may not be a fast runner, but I’m a steady one!

After Mile 4, we started to pick up the pace and I had a full-blown runner’s high. Legs felt great. Lungs felt great. Travis said that I talked the most he’s ever heard me talk on a run. I was just having a really great time!

The course has 2 out and back loops – one is Mile 1 to Mile 6, the other Mile 6 to Mile 12.5. So when we reached Mile 6, we got to see the first male coming in on his last mile, as well as all of the other runners in front of us. Even though it made the trail a little crowded at times, I really liked this. It made me feel like I was actually in a race instead of just out for a run with Travis (because when you’re in the back of the pack, sometimes it doesn’t feel like you’re even in a race!)

I was encouraging other runners and thanking the volunteers and loving life until about Mile 9 – when that turnaround seemed so. far. away. and my hips, specifically the left, had started throbbing. It wasn’t that surprising though, since I was technically on Mile 16.

Even though it was HOT, we kept up the pace until a major hill at Mile 12, and then slowly made our way to the finish line.

Finally, the finish line was in sight. I ran as fast as my tired legs would carry me and was SO excited to be done! I ran 20 MILES!

20 miles. Done.

Not only that, I beat my Colorado Half Marathon time (2:30:52) again! Our official net time was 2:30:05. Even though it wasn’t a PR, I didn’t care at all. I didn’t go into the race thinking it would be, I ran at a good pace, I LOVED THE EXPERIENCE, Travis ran with me, my parents were spectating, and it was the culmination of my marathon training. It is a huge blessing to reach this point in my training without injury and feeling as good as I did.

Now you can see why I feel like Spongebob. I’m ready, I’m ready, I’m ready. I’m confident that with tapering, sea level altitude and the race excitement, I’ll have the energy and strength I need to run the full 26.2 miles in a little over 2.5 weeks. I just need to stay motivated to run for the next 19 days and I’m golden (note to self).

So with that said, these are the race goals I’m toying with:

Goal A (This is AMAZING!, 11:26 average pace) – 5:00:00 or less

Goal B (I love running!!, 11:50 average pace) – 5:10:00 or less

Goal C (I feel pretty good, 12:15 average pace) – 5:20:00 or less

Goal D (This is tough but I’m finishing, dangit, 12:35 average pace) – 5:30:00 or less

But ultimately, since this could be the only marathon I run ever (or at least for the foreseeable future), I want to enjoy the experience like I did on Saturday. Run at a comfortable pace. If one mile is slower, don’t sweat it. If 20 miles are slower, don’t sweat it. Stop at the aid stations. Walk if you need to. Say hi to fellow runners and the volunteers. Take it all in. As long as I enjoy the race, I don’t really care about my pace. (Though I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t choose a faster time over a slower one.)

The 2o mile run being over also means… IT’S TAPER TIME! So. excited. I Heart Taper.

Week 14 Training: 5/21 – 5/27

Somehow, after the long holiday weekend of sleeping in and relaxing, my brain is functioning even less well than it did on Friday. I don’t know how that’s possible.

Anyway, I am so glad that this is the peak week of marathon training – because that means tapering starts next week. Don’t get me wrong – I love running. I wouldn’t be training for a marathon if I didn’t. But I’m discovering that I don’t love running this much. I’m definitely more of a half marathon gal.

These past 3 weeks, I’ve had a really hard time feeling motivated to get my runs in. I’ve resorted to giving myself little pep talks, “Don’t give up now. You only have x weeks left until taper. You can do this for x more weeks. You’re almost there.”

And I am almost there. One week left. 3 days. 3 runs. I can do this.

It’s at times like this when I need to read and listen to things that pump me up for running. This Nike ad is one thing that does it for me:

You pretended the snooze button didn’t exist. You dragged your butt out of bed while others slept. While others ate their pancakes you had a feast of protein, glucose and electrolytes. You double-knotted. You left the porch light on and locked the door behind you. You ran 5Ks, 10Ks, 26.2 miles. Some days more, some days less. You rewarded a long run with a short run. And a short run with a long run. Rain tried to slow you. Sun tried to microwave you. Snow made you feel like a warrior. You cramped. You bonked. You paid no mind to comfort. On weekends. On holidays. You made excuses to keep going. Questioned yourself. Played mind games. Put your heart before your knees. Listened to your breathing. Sweat sunscreen into your eyes. Worked on your farmer’s tan. You hit the wall. You went through it. You decided to be man about it. You decided to be woman about it. Finished what you started. Proved what you were made of. Just kept putting mile after mile on your interval odometer. For 25 years, you ran. And we ran with you. How much farther will we go? As far as you will.

A few others:

If it was easy, everyone would do it.

Ok! Now that we’re pumped up to RUN, here was my training last week:

Monday: 4.1 mile easy run, untimed (FELT GREAT!)

Tuesday: 8.61 mile tempo run (1:39:18; 11:31/mile)

HOT run. Ran first 6 miles at or faster than GMP (11:18 average). Last 2.5 miles were easy pace (12:03 average). Walked .5 mile to cool down.

Wednesday: Rest

Thursday: Rest

Friday: 5.23 mile run w/4 x 800 easy (56:52; 10:52/mile)

I ran these 800s like fartleks – at a faster pace but not fast enough to require recovery. 800 times were 5:28, 5:44, 5:13, and 4:55. Not too shabby.

Saturday: 9.58 mile Long Run Part 1 (1:53:18; 11:49/mile)

Sunday: 4.59 mile Long Run Part 2 (55:42; 12:08/mile)

Total Running Miles = 32.11

…………………….

Yesterday, I went swimming at the outdoor pool near our house. It was awesome. I love swimming outside! (Never mind it was my first time swimming since…???) Since my run Sunday morning had pretty much sucked, I took yesterday off from running and Travis and I went on a little hike near Roxborough. We were going to go to the state park down there but they don’t allow dogs. Apparently, they’ve had 10 mountain lion sightings in the past week or 2. After hearing that, I’m not sure I ever want to go hiking there. Yikes.

After that, we went to a park and played frisbee and sand volleyball with some friends. It was a good weekend overall!

Here’s my plan this week:

Tuesday: 5 miles (pm)

Wednesday: Rest

Thursday: 10 miles (am)

Friday: Rest (my parents are coming to visit!)

Saturday: 20 miles

Sunday: walk/cross-train

Week 13 Training: 5/14 – 5/20

It’s official!

I’m registered to run 26.2 miles in Anchorage on June 23. Gulp.

I have to be honest. As the reality of that distance sets in, I’m starting to wonder what made me want to run a marathon in the first place. Why again did I think that sounded like fun? But there’s no turning back now when almost all of the hard training is behind me! After my 20 mile run in 2 weeks, it’ll be taper time.

………………….

My runs this past week were slow but actually felt pretty good, which was a huge change (and blessing!) from last week.

Monday: 4.1 mile easy run (50:18; 12:16/mile)

Tuesday: 9 mile tempo run (1:45:30; 11:43/mile)

I ran the first 3.5 miles easy, the next 4.5 at goal marathon pace (11:30) or faster (whoops), and the last mile easy. Splits (courtesy of my Poor Man’s GPS):

1 – 12:13 (3:46 wu, 8:27 run)
2 – 12:28
3 – 12:03
3.5 – 5:47
4.5 – 11:03
5.5 – 11:30
6.25 – 8:56
7 – 8:16
8 – 11:11
9 – 12:00

Wednesday: Rest

Thursday: 4.13 mile easy run (48:50; 11:49/mile) + 60 minute CorePower 1 Yoga class

I cut my run short by one mile to make it back to yoga while my free week was still good. I went to a more traditional Vinyasa class this time. Here’s the description:

I enjoyed it. It was relaxing while still being challenging and our instructor, Linda Lou, was really nice and friendly. All the people there are so happy, they make me happy. When I was leaving, I noticed a pure barre sign on the building across the street. That’s what I want to try next.

Friday: Rest, walked an easy mile with husband and pooches

Saturday: Rest

Sunday: 18 mile long run (3:47:36; 12:38/mile), walked the dogs for 15 minutes

Total Running Miles = 35.23

Only 2 weeks left and it’s taper time! (If you can’t tell, I’m really looking forward to that. I’m so behind on everything!)

Anniversary Trip {Part Two}

Sunday dawned cold but clear. When I went out to get bagels from the grocery store across the street, this was our car:

Brrr…

After eating a cinnamon raisin bagel with peanut butter, I was off on my run and Travis was off to his morning hockey game. I took the pooches with me for the first 3 miles, then planned to drop them off to run the last 15 alone. After being couped up in a hotel room for 36 hours, only going outside for bathroom breaks, Katy and Charlie had a LOT of energy. And needed a lot of #2 pit stops. Nothing gets things moving like a run.

It was 35 when I first went out so I had decided to wear a long-sleeve tech shirt plus a lightweight jacket. The sun was out in full force, though, and by the time I got back to the hotel with the dogs, that jacket was too much. I left my long-sleeve on and with my compression tights and running skirt on bottom, I was perfectly dressed for the 40-50 degree weather.

Running in the mountains isn’t all bad

Pooches in their kennel, I headed back out with 3 hours of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix to keep me company. Having something like a story to think about helps to pass the time. Since I had a long way to go and was running at a good 4,000 feet higher than usual, my strategy for this run was to run at an easy, comfortable pace and walk when I needed or wanted to. Which was good because there were a lot of hills on this run.

First 3 miles:

15 mile out and back:

And those just show the main hills! There were also a bunch of smaller rolling hills. I ran up most of the smaller hills but walked up the big ones. It just wasn’t worth pushing myself to run up them, only to be completely out of breath at the top and have to walk anyway.

Miles 5 – 7.5 (of the 15 mile route) were tiring. It was enough uphill to be noticeable but not enough that I could justify walking. Around mile 6, I saw Travis driving back from his hockey game. He honked and I waved.

Finally I got to the turnaround! But because of the doozy of a hill at miles 10-10.5 (which I walked most of), and my aching legs/hips, I actually only ran the way back a minute faster than the way out.

Around mile 13, I took a bathroom break, which was glorious. For the last 2 miles, I alternated between thinking “Hey, this isn’t so bad”, “Holy crap, my hips are throbbing”, “I can totally run a marathon”, and “EIGHT more miles after this? I’m screwed”. But I made it. And I’m pretty sure that I’m going to cry at the finish line of the real marathon because I get emotional just finishing my long runs.

I borrowed Travis’ phone so that I could track my splits via the MapMyRun app but I’m pretty sure it didn’t work correctly. It says that the route I ran was only 14.6 miles instead of 15.1 (and actually, on the phone it said it was only 13.99 but when I looked it up online later, it said 14.6). It also said that my pace on some of the flatter miles was something like 14:45. I know I’m slow but I’m not that slow.

So plugging in my own numbers, it took me 3:47:36 to run 18 miles, for an average pace of 12:38. For running the longest run of my life at 9,300 feet with a cumulative elevation gain of 736 feet and a bunch of walking, I’m feeling pretty good about that pace.

Nevertheless, I’m hoping that I’ll run the marathon faster than that. And since the race is practically at sea level and I’ll have tapered beforehand, I feel confident that I can. Even if I run the race at an average pace of 12:30/mile, that would put me around 5:30:00 for a marathon finish time. So the goal I’m toying with right now is somewhere between 5:10 (11:49 pace) and 5:30 (12:35 pace).

I’ll wait until after my 20 miler to officially decide on goals.

………………………..

After my run, I took a shower and Epsom salt bath. Travis’ team had won their morning game too so they were moving on to the championship game at 3 pm. We packed up all of our stuff, ate lunch at Noodles & Company, and then went shopping at the outlet mall for 25 minutes to kill time. I went to the Gap Outlet and found this adorable dress for $32 that I am smitten with as well as 2 pairs of black pants — traditional dress pants for $30 and skinny jeans for $35 (I’ll post pictures later). I’m only going to keep one pair (due to our Alaska trip limiting our $$ resources) but can’t decide if I want to go trendy or timeless. Thoughts? Travis had some luck too with finding some hiking/aquashoes at the Columbia outlet for $25, marked down from $85!

Then it was off to the last hockey game. I took the dogs for a short walk while Travis got ready and then went in to watch the game. They lost by 1 point in overtime. Bummer!

A quick stop at a gas station for snacks and we were headed home to do laundry and veg out. We took Loveland Pass instead of the Eisenhower Tunnel, which neither of us had done before. The views were gorgeous:

But as always, I got freaked out and asked Travis to slow down at least 10 times. I’m a wreck on mountain roads.

Finally, we made it home. After we unloaded and unpacked everything, Travis was going to recharge the AC in our Focus when the car just up and died. Now it won’t start. I’m just glad that it didn’t die at the top of Loveland Pass! That would’ve been bad.

But I convinced Travis that instead of spending all night trying to fix it, he should just hang out with me. And so we ended our nice little anniversary weekend with an episode of NCIS (we’re totally addicted to that show).

Pretty soon, though, the real celebration begins: ALASKA!!